Reflections
by lostworldlady
Summary: Aeryn and John share a quiet moment late at night onboard Moya.


Reflections  
  
She was running. Running for her life. There were people chasing her but she couldn't see who they were. She stumbled and almost fell. Placing a hand on her swollen belly, Aeryn urged her aching body on. If they caught her, they would kill her and the baby she carried. Gasping for air, she pushed on.  
Now she was rushing through a dark forest and her pursuers were gaining on her. Her stomach heaved and she groaned with the extra weight of the child. Had she been slimmer, she would have been faster. But the baby weighed her down and they were coming.  
Bursting through the final stand of trees, Aeryn paused as her heart hammered in her chest. As she turned to continue her flight, she saw that she had nowhere else to go. A cliff fell ominously away into darkness. She was trapped.  
Sudden pain cramped her lower abdomen and she gasped in pain. The baby was coming. Tears began to trickle down her face as she turned once again to face her attackers.  
They wore black Peacekeeper battle suits and she couldn't see their faces. They menaced her with their pulse pistols and pulse rifles.  
Backing away instinctively, she forgot momentarily about the cliff as the pain flared again in her belly. She went down on one knee, screaming in pain. Too late she realized that she was dangerously close to the edge. Too late she realized that the Peacekeeper squad was firing. Too late she realized that she was falling. Falling over the edge of the cliff and down into oblivion.  
  
Aeryn woke with a start and sat bolt upright in bed. Sweating and gasping for breath, her hands moved automatically to touch her stomach where the pulse fire had ripped through her. Looking down, she realized that her pregnancy was not as advanced as it had been moments before. Nothing more than a slight bump, the fetus slept peacefully.  
Turning over to see if she had woken John, she was relieved to see that he was still sound asleep. Slowly and as quietly as she could, the ex- Peacekeeper slipped out of bed and out of the quarters she shared with the Astronaut.  
Roaming Moya's corridors at night had become a common thing for Aeryn lately. The dreams came to her almost every night now and she was amazed that no one had heard her cry out yet. Walking the familiar hallways, Aeryn sighed as she idly rubbed her ever-growing belly.  
Finding her way in the dark with the occasional DRD for company, she slowly made her way to her favorite late night haunt, the observation deck. Here, although part of it was outside in cold space, Aeryn could safely gaze for as long as she wished at the distant stars and planets.  
She had a feeling that the only one besides Moya herself who knew of her late night walks was Pilot. He would never give away her secret but he did discretely provide her with comforts. His last gift had been a soft chair that gave her a beautiful view of space while keeping her tucked away and out of sight should someone else enter the chamber.  
Settling herself in the chair, Aeryn sighed again as she thought about her most recent nightmare and all of the events leading up to it.  
Once she and John had been rescued from the boat and their alien attacker, they had gone to a nearby commerce planet to have the fetus checked to make sure it was still healthy.  
Finding that the baby was indeed going to be fine, Aeryn and Crichton had become even closer than they had been that day on the boat. They had spent several days alone on the planet and had thoroughly enjoyed the time together.  
Aeryn smiled to herself at the memory. Ever since being told that he was the child's father, John had spent every waking moment doting on Aeryn as her belly had gradually gotten bigger.  
John had told her by human pregnancy standards that she was a little over six months along. Aeryn knew even less than John did about female pregnancies, but if she could guess correctly, by Sebacean standards she was over seven monens along. Either way, she was growing larger and larger by the day.  
She was still hiding it from all the other crew members onboard Moya even though they already knew. Lately she had taken to covering her enlarged stomach by means of a hologram. Deep down, she knew that she wouldn't be able to hide it forever or even for much longer. It embarrassed her to no end now that she was slower when she moved and she couldn't put herself in harms way anymore as she had done all her life.  
Even though she didn't have typical maternal instincts, Aeryn's love for her unborn child made her overly protective of her body.  
Changing tracks, her mind now wandered over the memories of her past nightmares. This one had definitely been the worst. The ones before, she now realized, had been progressing towards her most recent one.  
When the nightmares came, she was always being chased, she was always heavily pregnant and she always woke up just as the blackness of the dream consumed her.  
Every night she would wake up by sitting bolt upright in the bed she shared with Crichton. She would be cold and clammy and she would be sweating profusely as she gasped for breath.  
Aeryn hated feeling vulnerable even though she knew that no one had more right to be upset than a pregnant female. She constantly felt exposed to imagined dangers and she would lay awake at night for hours worrying about the child that grew inside of her.  
She knew that she was being ridiculous and that her nightmares were only projected fears that she had while she was awake. But she shuddered at the memory of the pulse fire cutting her and her baby down.  
Closing her eyes, silent tears began to run down her cheeks. Like all mothers-to-be, she worried if the child would be healthy, if she would live to see the baby grow up, if the baby would fall in love and most of all if she would be a good mother.  
As she sobbed quietly to herself, she didn't hear someone enter the observation deck chamber. The other person followed the sound of crying until he found Aeryn sitting in her soft chair with her face in her hands.  
Aeryn finally heard the other person and looked up through tear- stained eyes to see John leaning over her with concern etched on his handsome features. Not saying a word, he gently picked her up and carried her over to the huge window that made up one wall of the chamber. He set her gently down on the floor and then joined her. John wrapped his arms protectively around Aeryn's belly as she leaned against his chest.  
Sighing contentedly she asked him quietly, "So how long have you known?"  
He smiled tenderly as he stroked her hair, "Ever since the nightmares started. I thought it would be best for you to fight your demons yourself, but when you screamed in your sleep tonight I couldn't stand it anymore. I'm sorry." She snuggled closer into his warm embrace. "Don't be. It's nice to know that someone cares, thank you." He chuckled, "Of course I care for you. I love you more than anything else in this world." He kissed her head lightly and continued, "The baby will be fine. I just wish there was more I could do to make it easier on you. I wish the nightmares would stop." She nodded and closed her eyes, "I think they will now because this was exactly what I needed. I love you John Crichton." He grinned and hugged her closer as they gazed out at the stars. "And I love you Aeryn Sun."  
  
THE END 


End file.
